Respected and influential photojournalist Mary Ellen Mark will speak about her life's work at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 27, at Hudson Valley Community College's Bulmer Telecommunications Center Auditorium.

For more than 30 years, Mark has traveled the world, capturing images of diverse cultures in largely black and white photographs. Her work is acclaimed for its deeply humanistic qualities, portraying subjects such as runaway children in Seattle, brothels in Bombay and the National Circus of Vietnam. Her photo essay of Mother Teresa, published in LIFE magazine in 1980, earned Mark particular recognition, including the first of her two Robert F. Kennedy awards.

Mark is a contributing photographer to The New Yorker, and her work also has appeared in publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair. She has published 15 books, earned dozens of awards and has permanent collections in more than 50 galleries worldwide. To view her extensive collection of work, visit www.maryellenmark.com.

Mark's free lecture is presented by the Hudson Valley Community College Teaching Gallery and made possible by the college Foundation through its Stephen L. Hyatt Fine Arts Endowment and the college's Faculty Student Association.

The Hudson Valley Community College Foundation is a not-for-profit charitable corporation formed in 1983 to philanthropically support the college\'s mission. Gifts to the Foundation from alumni, corporations and friends are used to enhance programs, facilities and scholarship opportunities at the college.

Founded in 1953, Hudson Valley Community College offers more than 60 degree and certificate programs in four schools: Business; Engineering and Industrial Technologies; Health Sciences; and Liberal Arts and Sciences; and workforce and academic preparation programs offered through the Educational Opportunity Center. One of 30 community colleges in the State University of New York system, it has an enrollment of more than 12,000 students, and it is known as a leader in distance learning initiatives and worker retraining. Hudson Valley has more than 60,000 alumni.